''Aniki-Bóbó'' is a 1942 Portuguese film directed by Manoel de Oliveira. It is his first feature-length film. The actors are mostly children from Oliveira's hometown,

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. The script was adapted by Manoel de Oliveira from a short story by José Rodrigues de Freitas, ''Meninos Milionários'' (lit. ''Millionaire Children''). ''Aniki-Bóbó'' is a rhyme from a children's game, akin to

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"—which can be spelled a number of ways—is a children's counting-out rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the ...

. The film was not very well received, but with time it gained recognition and was finally accepted as one of the most important Portuguese films of its time. In several respects, this film seems to anticipate

Italian neorealism Italian neorealism ( it, Neorealismo), also known as the Golden Age, is a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They pri ...

. It would be 21 years before Oliveira directed his next feature film.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* 1942 films 1942 drama films 1940s Portuguese-language films Portuguese black-and-white films Films directed by Manoel de Oliveira Portuguese drama films Films shot in Portugal {{1940s-drama-film-stub